RJD proves equal to BJP-Samata challenge in Bihar

Nothwithstanding the good showing by the Bharatiya
Janata Party-Samata Party combine in Bihar, the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal remains
a force to reckon with in state politics.

In fact, the RJD, led by former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad
Yadav, polled 26.29 per cent of the votes, which is
about three per cent more than that received by the BJP which got 23.54 per cent. Even the latter did not do all that badly compared to its previous record, which it bettered this time round by 3 per cent.

The Samata Party polled 16.02 per cent of the votes against 14.45 per cent
in the previous election.

However, the RJD, founded in July after a split in the
Janata Dal, is slightly behind the BJP in terms of seats. While the
BJP went up by one seat, from 18 in 1996 to
19, the RJD won 17 seats this time.

The Samata Party bagged 11 seats, which is a far sight better than the RJD's partners
who won only in six constituencies.

The RJD and its allies, including the Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Soren, JMM-Mondal,
and the Rashtriya Janata Party, together polled 37.74 per cent
of the votes against the BJP-Samata Party's joint poll percentage of 39.56.

The Congress secured 7.40 per cent of the votes, improving its seats tally
from two in 1996 to five.

The JMM-S and JMM-M drew a blank although they
together polled 3.49 per cent of votes. The JMM-S, which contested 20
seats and won one in the previous elections, bagged 3.01 per cent
of the votes, while the JMM-M obtained 0.48 per cent of the votes.

The RJD, which polled 0.97 per cent of votes, retained Sheohar, losing in the other constituency it contested.

The percentage of votes polled by the Janata Dal and the RJD in
this election adds up to 35.15 per cent compared to the 31.88
received by the united Janata Dal in 1996, when
it had won 22 of the 44 seats contested.

The CPI-M's vote count came down from 8.84 per cent in
1996 to 8.42 per cent.

Despite registering a rise in poll percentage from 1.34 per cent in
1996 to 2.12 per cent this time, the Samajwadi Party lost the
Purnea seat, the only seat it had won in the previous poll, to
the BJP.

The Bahujan Samaj Party was categorically rejected by the voters, with the
party polling a meagre 0.54 per cent against the 0.63 per cent
in the previous election.

The other damp squib was former state chief minister Jagannath Mishra's Bihar Jan Congress,
which garnered just 0.16 per cent of the votes.